


shadows are fallin' (and i'm running out of breath)

by teasockschocolate



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Light Angst, Luke Centric, Pre series, aka the reason i exist, baby annabeth, in this house we don't excuse luke's behavior but we respect that he's a good character, my sweet sweet kids before it got real real bad, no slash don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 16:45:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19931257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teasockschocolate/pseuds/teasockschocolate
Summary: based on tumblr prompt: "annabeth and luke directly after arriving at CHB and trying to work through the shock + grief together"_"He was the leader of their family and he’d failed them. He should have saved Thalia. It should have been him that died up there."





	shadows are fallin' (and i'm running out of breath)

They weren’t going to make it. The hellhounds had swarmed the hill, overtime Thalia’s bolts struck one down a new one took it’s place. Dark, rumbling clouds blanketed the sky.

“Let’s go!” Grover shifted his weight from hoof to hoof.

Luke tugged Annabeth’s hand, dragging her along behind him as she struggled to keep up. She’s too little, he thought, heart in his throat. He pulled too hard and she fell, crying out. 

“Come on!” Grover bleated.

“Get her across.” Thalia stopped beside him and drew her sword. “I’ll take care of them.”

He stared.“What?” 

“Go.” 

“No!”

“Luke!”

A hellhound pounced dangerously close to Annabeth, still on the ground. She screamed and swiped her dagger at it, just grazing it’s fur. It stumbled back, but growled and crouched to pounce again. Luke hooked his arms under Annabeth’s and pulled her back. He scrambled back and saw Thalia stab it right in the neck as it landed right where Annabeth had been seconds ago.

“Get her out of here!” Thalia yelled over her shoulder.

Luke scooped Annabeth up and sprinted up the hill, a little hard with her beating on his chest and screaming that they couldn’t leave Thalia. When he reached the crest of the hill,   
he all but dumped the child onto Grover. 

“Keep her here.” 

Grover tried to restrain Annabeth but he was barely bigger than she was and when she surged forward again, sobbing now, she broke free.

“Annabeth, stay here.” Luke snapped.

“But–”

“Now.” He barked. Her look of shock at his tone made him instantly feel guilty but there were more important things to worry about now. He turned back up the hill to Thalia. She was lost in the swarm of monsters. 

“Thalia!” 

The sky boomed and the ground shuddered, making Grover, Luke and Annabeth fall. The hellhounds turned on their tails and ran, leaving Thalia’s broken body at the crest of the hill and a man with a long beard standing over her. He placed a hand on top of Thalia’s head and said something, too low for them to hear. Then there was a flash of light (Grover yelled for them to look away) and the man was gone. Where Thalia had laid, there was a sapling. It twisted, growing at rapid pace until a full grown pine tree stood where she had. 

“Zeus.” Grover whispered. “Her father. Turned her into a tree.”

That’s the best he could do? Luke thought bitterly.

“I don’t…” Annabeth’s voice broke off. 

“Come on,” Grover helped her up. “We have to take you guys to the Big House.”

___  
  
After everything that had just happened, meeting a centaur and an apathetic god didn’t phase Luke too much. Most of what they said he didn’t really register. He was numb, only really aware of the ringing in his ears and Annabeth trembling beside him. He was the leader of their family and he’d failed them. He should have saved Thalia. It should have been him that died up there.

Chiron was going on about gods and claiming (Grover filled in for the necessary questions about their parentage. Annabeth had been claimed shortly after she’d stabbed the cyclops in the foot back in Brooklyn and Luke had known since he was 12). He was snapped out of his daze when he heard Chiron suggest to get the Athena counselor to take Annabeth. 

He tightened his arm around her shoulders. “Why can’t she stay with me?” In the corner of his eye he saw her head nod frantically.

Dionysus rolled his eyes. “Every demigod must stay with their siblings in their godly parent’s cabin.”

“Mr. D,” Chiron said. “The children have had a traumatic day. This one night in the Big House perhaps?”

“Whatever.”

Chiron smiled. “I’m afraid I can’t go up stairs but Grover will show you your beds for the night later. Starting tomorrow though, you must abide by camp rules.”

“Thank you.”

“Grover, give them a tour, will you?”

“Yes, sir.” Grover turned to them. “C’mon guys.”

He led them out the door and onto a long white wrap-around porch. 

“Can we just… take a minute?” Luke felt like he was going to be sick. 

Grover’s chin hadn’t stopped wobbling and he scrubbed his eyes with his fists. “Yeah,”

Luke sank onto the front steps, Annabeth gingerly mimicking him. The tree that was Thalia (what the hell?) was right in the center of his line of vision. He put his face in his hands and bit the sole of his palm, trying to keep the sobs from coming. 

“This sucks.” Annabeth mumbled.

He almost laughed at her bluntness if it wasn’t for the stabbing feeling in his chest. “Yeah, it does.” He wiped his face quickly. He had to stay strong. For her. 

Grover nervously pointed out the mess hall, the climbing wall, and the cabins. Everywhere they went, they were kids around Luke’s age in bright orange   
shirts. They all stopped and stared as they passed. 

“Why’re they looking at us?” Annabeth frowned.

“They probably all heard about Thalia.” Grover explained uncomfortably. Luke flinched at her name. 

A girl around 16 with hair and eyes identical to Annabeth’s broke away from one of the clumps of campers and came over to the younger girl. “Hi, daughter of Athena, right?”

“This is Kyla, Annabeth. She’s the head counselor for the Athena cabin.” Grover introduced. Annabeth moved to duck behind Luke’s leg but stood her ground at the last second.

“Hello,” She raised her chin to survey her new sister.

“It’s Annabeth?”

She nodded.

“Very pretty name. Do you want to go see our cabin, Annabeth?”

Annabeth tightened her grip onto Luke. “Chiron said we could stay in that house tonight.”

“That’s fine. You could just look inside now to get a little used to it.” Kyla smiled encouragingly. 

Luke practically could see the gears in her head turning.

“He can come too.” Kyla added, gesturing to Luke. 

Annabeth looked up at him hesitantly. When he nodded his approval, her face brightened a bit. “Okay.”

“It’s this way,” She turned and walked towards a purple cabin with a big owl above the door. “We have a lot of books!”

Annabeth’s smile dropped. “I can’t read well.”

“Dyslexia.” Luke explained. “I think.”

“Oh, we all have that!” Kyla’s smile didn’t waver. “It’s because demigods are hardwired to read Ancient Greek. Our books are all in Ancient Greek, don’t worry. You’ll be a natural.”  
Annabeth’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yeah! Here, I’ll show you.” She stopped and swung her backpack off her shoulders, pulling a thick book out. “Here.” She held it out to Annabeth. She hesitantly took it, thumbing it open. 

Annabeth’s gasp made Luke’s heart melt and for a moment it felt like everything was okay.

Kyla grinned. “I’ve read almost all the books we have so if you tell me what you like I bet I’ll be able to find a book for you to start reading soon.”

“Really?” Annabeth’s eyes, which already took up half of her baby-face, widened. 

“Absolutely.” Kyla nodded. “Ready to go inside?”

Annabeth handed her back the book, took Luke’s hand again, and nodded.

The beds in the Athena cabin had a reading lamp clipped onto each and had been haphazardly pushed to the side in favor of desks and bookshelves. Books were crammed into every nook and cranny and battle plans were pinned up on the walls. There were about ten Athena kids, all resembling Annabeth and Kyla, scattered around. They all looked up when Kyla opened the door and continued to stare when they saw Luke and Annabeth.

“Everyone, this is Annabeth. Our newest cabinmate.”

A chorus of “hi”s went around. Annabeth nodded, eyes wide and calculating as she took in every detail of her new surroundings. Luke felt a pang at having to leave her here tomorrow. He didn’t want to let her out of his sight –– she was all he had left now.

“Let’s bring you back to Grover now,” Kyla gestured out the door. “We’ll find you a book later if you want.”

“Yes, please,” Annabeth whispered. Any other day, Annabeth would be bouncing on her toes and beaming up at Luke (and Thalia). But now she kept her head lowered and voice quiet and it made Luke want to cry all over again. 

Kyla left them with Grover, promising to pick some preliminary choices for Annabeth by dinnertime. 

As the day went on, Luke, begrudgingly had to admit it was going to be nice to have a home without any glassy-eyed mothers and to sleep in a warm bed instead of an alley. Still, he wasn’t crazy about worshipping the gods that had made it so it’d be his first real meal in two years tonight. The gods that had let Thalia die. And turn her into a tree of all things. Annabeth seemed to be handling things pretty well, given the circumstances. Camp was overwhelming and she’d look over her shoulder to make sure that he was still close by every few minutes. They had to sit at separate tables at dinner. The Athena table was three down from Hermes, so Luke couldn’t see her that well. Kyla’d promised to stay with her though. Now Luke was on his own and had to talk to people without Annabeth. He kind of wished he had her here –– it was easier to hide his fear and grief by focusing on her. 

“So, Luke, right?” A guy around his age sat across from him.

Luke nodded.

“Dominic,” He grinned and Luke awkwardly gave a small smile back.

“How old are you?”

“14.”

“Cool. 15.”

Luke gave another awkward nod.

“You’ve been on the run, right? How long?”

“Uh, 2 years.”

Dominic gave a low whistle. “Shit, man. Good for you.”

“Is it?” Luke frowned. “Sorry. It’s just… it wasn’t easy.”

“Right. Of course. Sorry. You don’t have to talk about it. You’re safe here though.”

“Yeah,” Luke looked at the pine tree at the top of the hill. “Thanks.”

___

At the campfire, Annabeth pressed against his side, just like she had at all those camps they made around the country. It’d been just a few days ago that they’d last had to camp outside, but it felt like a lifetime. If he focused on the flames hard enough, he could pretend Thalia was on the other side of the fire and it was his turn to keep watch while his girls slept. 

Everyone around them sang and roasted marshmallows. Luke and Annabeth didn’t know the songs and even if they did, it felt like a crime to be so happy when everything was so wrong. 

__

That night, he let himself cry into his pillow so Annabeth wouldn’t hear. She probably knew (kid was too smart) but she kept quiet. He couldn’t imagine she was sleeping either. 

“I’m sorry, Annabeth,” Luke’s voice was muffled.

“For what?” She whispered in the dark.   
“I let you both down. I said I’d take care of both of you.”

“It’s okay,” Annabeth paused for a while. “It’s not your fault.” 

It was. He knew it was. If he’d been quicker, if he hadn’t left her…. 

“You’re gonna be okay right? Here?”

“Well, you’ll still be with me. Right?”

He cracked a sad smile. “Always, kiddo.”

“Good.” Annabeth was quiet for a while and just when he thought maybe she’d fallen asleep she spoke again. “I miss her.”

“Yeah,” Luke’s voice broke a little. “Me too.”

“Do you like camp?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. It’s a lot. You?”

“Yeah, same.” He sighed. 

“Do you think I’m the youngest one here?”

“I think so.” Luke wanted to kick himself for not noticing earlier but Annabeth was by far the smallest kid he’d seen all day. He hoped she wasn’t scared of any of the bigger ones. “You’ll let me know if anyone gives you any trouble, right? Don’t let anyone pick on you just because you’re a kid.”

“I won’t.”

“Good.” He tried to switch gears. “How excited are you to get to read though?”

“Super,”

He couldn’t see her, but pictured her smiling that big grin with her newly missing front teeth and smiled himself. “You’ll learn even more. The rest of us don’t stand a chance.”

“Think so?”

“Of course. And once you get real training with your knife? Forget it.”

“Maybe I can be the youngest Athena counselor ever.”

He felt himself laugh a little for the first time that day. “You probably could be, but let’s go one day at a time, kiddo.”

“Okay, okay.” He heard her yawn.

“We should probably try to sleep soon.”

“I don’t think I can.” 

“Me neither.” Luke sighed. “Just try though. It’s been… a long day.”

“Okay.”

“Luke?” She whispered.

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad you’re here. If it’d been both of you…”

He hadn’t registered her screamed pleas when he’d turned around to help Thalia, but remembered them now. Oh, Annabeth.

“I know. I’m really glad you’re here too.”

__

one year later

“I took down the new Ares girl today. Clarrise. And she’s two years older and a lot bigger than me. But I’m faster and smarter.” Annabeth perched on the biggest root of Thalia’s tree, drawing in the dirt with the point of her dagger. Luke grinned. He’d seen the spar happen, but Annabeth had kept up with a habit of relaying her day to the tree, as if Thalia was listening. It was something she would (and probably should, it looked a little strange to outsiders) grow out of over time, but for now it was fine. Today marked a year since they’d come to camp, so they’d smuggled up some food and had a mini picnic under the tree. Chiron probably knew, but he didn’t say anything. Luke’s Hermes instincts and the trauma card meant he and Annabeth got to get away with more than most campers. Plus, Annabeth was very obviously Chiron’s favorite camper which didn’t hurt. 

Luke and Annabeth gone up to Thalia’s tree every night for the first few months. For the first few days they sat in silence at the base of the tree, Annabeth reading and Luke watching camp below. Grover came a lot too. It was his idea to talk to the tree, something Luke had felt weird doing but Annabeth was young enough to enjoy, even as mentally mature as she was. Their daily visits grew less frequent as they became more involved in camp activities and made other friends, helping with Capture the Flag strategy instead of doing their vigil. They now went on Sundays after dinner but before the campfire, catching up with each other. They didn’t spend every second together anymore which was the healthy thing to do, but Luke missed having her around.

“I’m proud of you. Thalia would be too.”

Annabeth looked up from her stick figure monsters. “Thanks.” She rested her head against the tree and looked up at it’s branches, smiling softly. “She’d be proud of you too.” 

The lump in his throat didn’t hurt as much now, but still was very much there. “Thanks, kiddo,”

She jumped to her feet. “Teach me that disarming move. Against a sword.”

He got up to his feet. “Here? You sure?” 

She unsheathed her dagger. “Scared?”

He rolled his eyes. “Okay, so say I’m coming at you like this, you’d stop it at the hilt here. Step in for weight leverage. Good. The closer you are the harder it is to swing. Don’t get too close though or––“

“I know, I know. Let me try now.” 

“Alright, alright.” He pulled out his sword. “Let’s see what you got.”

She was a natural, of course. They spared lazily for a while, easily blocking each other’s advances. 

“Do you like it here?” He asked her again.

“Yeah,” She grinned. “You?”

Luke thought of his friends in the Hermes cabin, the smell of the strawberry fields, the nymphs in the forest and the naiads in the lake, seeing Annabeth’s cheeks round for the first time since he’d found her. “Yeah, I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> some easter eggs  
> -the scene in the big house bedroom is from another pic that's basically this through annabeth's eyes  
> -that move he teaches her at the end is what she does against kronos in the very final battle right before the iconic "family, luke" line


End file.
